. tonight from las vegas, wild drama, trump and clinton, the final showdown before the election. donald trump in need of a game-changing moment, unleashing more surprise guests to try to rattle hillary clinton. who is riding high in the polls. bracing for a barrage of attacks. nbc news exclusive as wikileaks releases more stolen documents. intelligence sources tell nbc news what the u.s. is doing to block the russians from making off with anything more. but what else do they already have? blown away -- a massive explosion rocks a big american city. firefighters injured as people run for their lives. and clearing the air -- from buying tickets to lost luggage. the new rules designed to ease your flying headaches.

>> announcer: decision 2016, the presidential debate. this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. reporting tonight, from las vegas. and good evening from the university of nevada, las vegas, where the blue debate set behind me may be about the only thing recognizable from when hillary clinton and donald trump first debated last month. tonight, the tone, the polls and the t shifted ahead of their third and final showdown here. a slight underdog in a bloomberg poll going into the first debate, this evening bloomberg's latest poll puts clinton nine points ahead. the campaigns telegraphing there will be none of the traditional predebate pleasantries for family, with trump laying the ground work to sharpen his attacks. the questions tonight, can he have a game-changing moment? and can she avoid one of her

let's begin coverage with nbc's katie tur. >> donald trump is going all in with the politics of distraction, inviting a new bill clinton accuser to the debate. leslie millwee told breitbart that clinton forcibly touched her in 1980 when she was a reporter in arkansas and he was governor. clinton's team not commenting. breitbart was run by trump's ceo until august. the outlet could not fully substantiate her but trump isn't stopping there, seating benghazi mother pat smith in the front row. using smith to force a confrontation. >> i blame hillary clinton personally for the death of my son. >> trump also inviting ambassador chris stevens one-time fiancee. afghanistan lone survivor marcus latrell. four mothers killed by undocumented immigrants and president obama's estranged kenyan half-brother.

into a spectacle when gol operatives say what he needs is to tone it down. >> he needs to change what swing voters think about him. that require as presidential temperament. >> in the days since the last debate, trump did not lighten his schedule, squeezing in prep on his plane between events, jed joinedgy generals mike flynn and keith kellogg. nbc has learned that trump still shuns mock debates reince priebus did fill in as unofficial moderator. chris christie, a psuedo moderator. the goal to prep trump on rapid-fire responses while finding ways to knock clinton off her game. on policy, trump's team said they'll highlight what they call her failed 30-year record. just as he did in the second debate. >> she never changed and she never will change. she never will change. >> if all else fails, the gop nominee has a built-in excuse,

but if he does lose, daughter ivanka suggested he would concede. >> he'll either win or he won't win. and i believe he'll accept the outcome either way. >> the campaign said they expect clinton to bring up trump's accusers, but as of now they won't say how trump will respond. >> this is donald trump's last chance to pitch himself to millions of americans in one setting. instead of focusing on his own ideas, the campaign has repeatedly resorted to tabloid fodder. lester? >> katie tur, thank you. and bracing for all that and the unpredictable is hillary clinton. looking to maintain her lead with less than three weeks to go. and deny trump a chance to find momentum. nbc news is learning details on clinton's final showdown strategy and we get more on that in a report from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> tonight, hillary clinton entering the debate as the clear front-runner but facing critical challenges, three keys for the

tonight her first chance to confront trump since his unfounded claims the election will be rigged. the president teeing up her argument that trump is undermining democracy. >> i would advise mr. trump to stop whining. >> and the first time she'll be confronted with trump's new tactics, like bringing up a benghazi victim's mother, who blames clinton for her son's death and inviting the new bill clinton accuser to the debate. >> this could be one of the surprises tonight. >> we're expec anything in these closing days. he has said that he's essentially practicing a scorched earth approach to this campaign. >> the clinton campaign had the debate commission cancel the traditional handshake between bill clinton and melania trump who will enter the hall without greeting each other. a second key tonight, playing defense against those wikileaks emails. nbc news learning her likely response to hit trump for praising vladimir putin, suspected by the fbi of being

the stolen messages from clinton chairman john podesta sure to come up tonight. more than 4,000 released just today. including this awkward account from her top strategist -- acknowledging her flip-flop on trade. quote the reality is hrc is more pro trade than anti- and trying to turn her into something she is not could reinforce our negative around authenticity. finally clinton will reach out to swing voters. >> she's looking for people who might have been considering voting have been staying home or the classic swing voters of whom there are fewer and fewer as we get closer to the election. >> clinton's top challenge -- not to blow her lead. even her allies acknowledging she's best when her back is against the wall. when i asked one of the top clinton aides what is her one piece of advice to her tonight? he said be presidential. lester? >> andrea mitchell, thank you. >> all this brings us to our political director and moderator

having provocative guests in the front row. does that shake either candidate? they're both pros. >> at this point they're pros about it i do think what happened in st. louis, the first time that the trump campaign did all of these antics, it might have had some impact, at least on campaign team, maybe on hillary clinton herself. i don't think any of this stuff works and over-the-top theet ricks, that's par for the course for las vegas. one, obviously donald trum this is his last big shot at sort of getting back in the race. but it's more important if you're paul ryan and you're the speed he can of the house. a bad night tonight for donald trump, a night similar to the first debate and it is a catastrophe for the republicans down the ballot. paul ryan, anybody else needs trump to have a good night if they want to give themselves a good chance of holding their house majority. this is no longer about fixing the presidential race and getting that closer, this is about whether the republican party can stop a total loss.

looking at? >> yes, absolutely. our primetime coverage of the debate, the final presidential debate starts at 9:00 p.m. eastern. 6:00 p.m. pacific here on nbc. to an nbc news exclusive investigation as wikileaks continues to play a major role in this election. u.s. intelligence sources are taking us inside the effort to stop the flow of documents hacked by russia and published by wikileaks. here's nbc news senior investigative correspondent cynthia mcfadden. >> a intelligence source tells nbc news that the u.s. is confident it has cut off the flow of election-related material being hacked by the russians. the u.s. claims the kremlin has been behind the theft of a wide range of documents. many of them harmful to the clinton campaign. the highly placed intelligence official tells nbc news new defensive measures taken by the u.s. and its allies are choking

from high-profile democrats and other prominent americans. >> i think it's credible that th u.s. government is doing everything possible to stop the cyberbleeding, to stop the leaking of information that the russians are getting access to. that doesn't mean that the russians don't already have a lot of information and it doesn't mean that they won't find ways of either disseminating that information, or getting access to more of it. >> u.s. intelligence officials also tell nbc news they are mor russians have used wikileaks founder julian assange, to help distribute the hacked material. telling nbc the u.s. considers assange a quote willing participant in the russian scheme. assange has been holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london for more than four years. >> they're frustrated because wikileaks has done a fair amount of damage in releasing classified information. and of course, assange has taken

in the ecuadorian embassy in london. >> and the u.s. is making it personal. multiple intelligence sources tell us that the u.s. quietly pressured ecuador to shut off julian assange's internet access. isolating him from his organization. the state department in ecuador have publicly denied that there was any pressure. today, the reverb rations of russia's cyberassault have being felt across the political spectrum. even republicaen rubio came out swinging against wikileaks. >> do we want to be a country where foreign leader or foreign intelligence agencies can blackmail our elected officials and say to them that unless you do what we want you to do, we're going to release emails from your campaign manager. your wife. your daughter. your son. and we're going to embarrass you. so unless you want to be embarrassed, you better do what we want you to do. >> even though the flow of new material may have been plugged

thousands of additional documents already in the pipeline, that we expect to see. lester? >> cynthia mcfadden, thank you. in portland, oregon, a massive explosion has injured at least eight people, including firefighters who rushed in to help evacuations have been made minutes earlier. likely saving lives. nbc's miguel almaguer has our report. >> the massive explosion owe lit rated at least one building. tearing others to shattering windows a block away, and rattling nerves across portland. >> gas line just exploded. >> just before 9:40 this morning, police and firefighters scrambling to the scene of a gas leak. ordering immediate evacuations, when the blast blew apart a commercial building. >> had those evacuations happened you know minutes later, this could be a much different

who radioed for help, two with broken legs. >> mayday, mayday! >> after the initial explosion -- several smaller blasts shook this upscale trendy shopping district. flames shooting into the air. chaos and confusion and a nearby school evacuating. >> i heard a lot of screams and like people were running away and like kind of in a scattery fashion in the street. >> the gas company says when a gas line was ruptured, changing the face of this neighborhood. >> it was like a huge explosion. and you know your thought is, terrorism. or -- a bomb. >> tonight, this busy portland, oregon neighborhood is in pieces. but thankfully, no lives were lost. miguel almaguer, nbc news. >> turning overseas to iraq, where a u.s.-backed offensive draws closer to mosul.

isis could be a long and bloody one. but the general leading the american effort there now tells nbc news several isis leaders have already fled. nbc's richard engel has more from inside iraq. >> u.s.-backed kurdish and iraqi troops are tightening the noose around isis in mosul. closing in from three sides. and isis, although still in relatively small numbers, is now fighting back. isis has had plenty prepare for this fight. kurdish troops uncovered this well-equipped tunnel outside mosul. they expect there are many more like it, and that isis has also planted bombs in their path. in its propaganda, too, isis is promising that america will suffer a humiliaing defeat here. nonsense, according to general gary valesky, he said some isis leaders are hitting the road.

leaving mosul. >> isis moving? >> we've gotten indications of that. so i expect there will be a foreign fighter presence that will stay. >> that's because unlike locally recruited isis fighters, the foreigners will have a hard time mixing in with the stream of civilians already escaping from the war zone. the big question now is how many isis militants will actually stand and fight in mosul and how they'll do it. beside the tunnels and bobby traps, there are concerns isis american commanders tell us they're prepared for that, too. lester? >> all right. richard thank you. still ahead tonight, refunds for delayed bags, one of the major changes the white house wants to make to address some of the most common complaints among airline passengers. also, a major wireless carrier was doing to customers carrier was doing to customers that landed my friends think doing this at my age is scary.

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we're back now from las vegas. hard to believe but it's already time to start thinking about booking those airline tickets for the holidays. today the obama administration announced a series of proposed new rules designed to offer more protections for airline customers. like getting a refund if your luggage arrives late. but the airlines insist the rules could actually lead to higher ticket prices. here's nbc's tom costello. >> imagine the frustration of

arrived in alaska, their luggagings with their cold weather gear, didn't. >> we had left 80-degree weather and landed in anchorage and it was 45. after a wek without their bags, they gave up. >> after five days of not having what you need, it was just enough. >> nationwide, roughly three bags are reported lost, delayed, damaged or pill ferred, per 1,000 customers. 175,000 bags in august. paying to $25 per bag. for a family of four, $200 round trip. airlines already must refund baggage fees if the baggage is lost or damaged. new rules would require a refund if the bags are substantially delayed. airlines would be required to disclose the ontime performance record for any airline that flies under its brand. and online travel sites would have to reveal whether any airline is paying fof their

searches. the airline industry warns the proposed rules could harm customers by reregulating how airlines sell their products. but consumer advocates say it's common sense. >> what's the principle of the thing? you pay for a service, you should get the service you pay for. and if you don't, you should get your money back. >> a push to hold airlines more accountable. tom costello, nbc news, washington. we're back in a moment with a plane that crashed into a neighborhood a with my mode t s, the possibility of a flare was almost always on my mind. thinking about what to avoid, where to go... and how to deal with my uc. to me, that was normal. until i talked to my doctor. she told me that humira helps people like me get uc under control and keep it under control when certain medications haven't worked well enough. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections

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upgrades. tensions between police and protesters erupted in a scene of shocking violence in the philippines. a police van rammed into the crowd of demonstrators and even ran over some of them. it happened outside the american embassy in manila. the protesters are calling for an end to the u.s. military presence in their country. caught on cam remarks dramatic rescue when a small plane crashed in a new jersey back yard. two men were trapped upside-down after the plane somehow into two upon impact. first responders pulled them out and their injuries are believed to be nonlife-threatening. when we come back just what kind of lessons are american kids learning from this contentious electi >> announcer: "nbc nightly news" is brought to you by pacific life. helping generations of families achieve long-term financial

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>> it's not easy teaching seventh graders lessons in civics. >> you got to have pros and cons. >> during a campaign that's anything but civilized. in one word, describe how you feel about this presidential campaign? >> doubtful. >> disappointed. >> nervous. >> why are you nervous? >> because these candidates are the people who are deciding our future. >> the principal at pinellas park middle candidates' behavior contradicts educators' messages about appropriate conduct. >> you see highly paid professionals, highly educated people that are basically booing each other in front of millions of viewers and yet, the kids come to school and we tell them it's inappropriate behavior. >> donald trump is being disrespectful to women. and i don't like that. >> she lied about like the 33,000 like emails. >> they act like little kids.

>> it's a hard election for students, it's a hard election for adults. >> as the final weeks of the election unfold -- >> i would say to donald, you need to be a more respectful towards the united states and women. and i would tell it to hillary, that you just need to be honest and tell the truth. >> it's hard to see what would happen to the country if one were elected. so that's what makes i think everybody anxious. and uncomfortable. >> one of them will be elected. >> >> a sigh, that pretty much sums up the nation's feeling as the candidates face each other again tonight. rehema ellis, nbc news, pinellas park, florida. and that's going to do it for us on this wednesday night. i'm lester holt. i'll see you later for our live coverage of tonight's presidential debate. until then, for all of us at nbc news, thanks for watching.

?? >> announcer: this is breaking news now from today's tmj4. >> we have new information in the shooting of sylville smith by a milwaukee police officer. the august shooting sparked anger and violence? sherman park >> rebecca klopf is in the newsroom with the search warrant that has just been unsealed in the case. >> reporter: this is the 11-page ar department of justice, investigating the shooting death of sylville smith. smith was shot by a milwaukee police officer in august. it sparked two days of violence in sherman park. they pulled smith and another man over and observing what they thought was a drug deal. the men ran, smith raised a gun in his direction before the officer fired. the search warrant that was just

phones. there was heroin and cocaine and a handgun. a department of just sis agent believes the possession of weapons, narcotics and cell phones may be indicative. >> the case is currently in the hands of the district attorney. tonight at 10:00, what sylville smith's brother says he wants moving forward. charles and shannon. >> charles: also now at 6:00, ripped couple is out $11,000 in the case of a contractor fraud. that contractor agreed to do home improvement work and instead took the money and ran. >> that man arrested and charged. police think more victims, however, may be out there. rikki mitchell live at the waukesha police department with this story. >> reporter: well, right now, waukesha police say they know of at least three victims who hired this man for contracting work. and they say that each of them